Comic Rewind: Hellraiser Vol. 1

Pinhead and the other Cenobites are back, but this time a group is ready to fight back in Hellraiser Vol. 1.

Pinhead is tired of ripping people apart and what his life has become so wants to make a bargain. He enters the Tower of Teeth and Tongues. It is a place which is forbidden to many, but Pinhead is one of the select few who may enter.

Once inside he asks the to speak to the only things which can grant his request. Pinhead calls out the League and Leviathan. However, they do not grant him direct audience and speak through a organ made of fleshless bodies.

Pinhead asks if they will grant him his wish. He wants to become human once more so he may get another opportunity to gain the salvation of Heaven. However, Pinhead is told if he fails he will lose all rank and be forever on fire.

Meanwhile on Earth Kirsty Cotton gets a mysterious letter which tells her the location of a puzzle box. After she receives the letter she calls the Carousel. The Carousel is made up of three other people who have had their lives torn apart by the Cenobites. They discuss whether the letter is a trap or a bit of much needed help.

The Carousel investigate the location on the letter as well as who wrote it and why. As they get closer to defeating the Cenobites they also get pulled in deeper to a possible trap.

Hellraiser Vol. 1 was written by Clive Barker and Christopher Monfette with art by Leonardo Manco. BOOM! Comics published the volume in 2013.

I will be perfectly honest in saying I knew almost nothing about Hellraiser going into this comic. The only things I knew were who Pinhead is and something about puzzle boxes. This volume didn’t do a great job of explaining Hellraiser lore.

However, I don’t know if it really took anything away from the comic. The comic is really all over the place, but not in a bad way just a overwhelming horror way. I don’t know what little easter eggs or references to the movies I may be missing. It is hard to know what you don’t know because you don’t know it.

I was never really confused by who was who and never felt lost. The only problem with the volume was not a whole lot happening. When the volume ended it felt very incomplete and ended right in the middle of the story. This is a story which takes place over many different volumes but I need some kind of closure at the end of the volume.

The story ramps up to a showdown, but when I finally think I will get it I don’t. I was ultimately kind of bored by the volume. All the blood, gore and graphic death scenes kept me hanging in there to the end though.

As much as this comic didn’t really grab me like I had hoped it get my interest a little. After reading this comic I want to watch a Hellraiser movie. This comic is pretty nuts and sets a really good horror mood.

I didn’t like the volume very much, but it did make me want to watch the movie. The base is there but the execution is lacking is the best way to describe the volume.